Leadership-Build More Leaders

Leadership-Build More Leaders

The purpose of true leadership is not to maintain followers but to produce leaders. The above line sums up the whole purpose of leadership. You cannot convince me that you are a leader and say that you do not have a plan for your succession. Coaching & Mentoring are an integral part of your success as a leader. Your responsibility as a leader is to produce people better than you. Coaching & Mentoring practices focus on self-development. And coaches and mentors, too, are expected to be in a perpetual state of learning.

·         Put people first: When you decide to build people, your objective must also be to put people first. Shortsighted leadership focuses primarily on the bottom line. It’s not that the profits are not important—they are. But when they become the primary focus of a leader, then it inevitable results in self-interest and not in the interest of the team or the organization.

Sometimes, it may even cost you with some of your resources in developing people but it’s fine as long as you have made a decision to compromise on your bottom line in order to build effective leaders.

·         Character: Most leaders place their value on the vision of the organization and sometimes even ignore the role of a strong and genuine character in their personal life. Character is however, more fundamental and essential to accomplishing your organizational vision. Character affects how we interact with people around us. It influences to a high extent the kind of people we choose to surround ourselves with.

George Washington is reported to have said, “Associate yourself with men of good quality if you esteem your own reputation, for it is better to be alone than in bad company.’ Why is this important? Because your character is who you are. And if you don’t have a reputable character as a leader, you cannot expect others to follow you and help them become better leaders. For that to happen, you need to have a good, genuine and noble character.

·         Accountability & Trust: A leader must be accountable to a higher authority other than himself. He or she must submit to that authority without any terms or conditions in any situation. And this accountability is the prerequisite to building trust.

When you are accountable to yourself, to the people you lead and a higher authority, then people eventually place trust in you. Trust is a natural product of being accountable. If your desire is to build leaders, you need to be a good and reputable leaders yourself first and build the trust among your followers to transform them into leaders.

·         Leadership Attributes: Leaders attributes are an obvious quality to a leader who is looking to build or mentor leaders. Leadership attributes include demonstrating courage; keeping others focused on the organization’s vision & mission; exercising faith, and always willing to examine and change paradigms. True leadership often comes on to the frontline when it’s necessary to hold up some decision even when others disagree.

·         Influence & Impact: Mentor leaders look for opportunities in life to make an impact, because these opportunities to make difference in the lives of others will always be present. When you are a leader, you already have the positional advantage to influence others. Too often I hear people say that they will make a difference—later. They have a belief that they can change things once they have more time or once they have accomplished more. And therefore, they have a mentality that mentoring & coaching is only for experienced people. Don’t let your age – either young or old or your experience, or the call of success get in the way of your mission to touch the world for good. As a leader, you are obligated to help your people and make them better leaders for tomorrow. But you need to start somewhere. Just start and try to learn from other leadership models that produced great results.

·         Lead with example: What could be the best way to develop leaders other than letting them follow on your own footsteps? There are mainly two kinds of leaders. One who say things, but do not really practice the same in their own life. Then there are those who live the words they speak. I don’t need to ask you which of the two will have more influence on you? Obviously, the former kind of leader will have influence but that influence will be short lived. The simple truth behind that is : you are known for your Actions & not just for your words.

Mentor leaders are known by their legacy. If you want to build leaders who will be known for their commitment to the beliefs and values of the organization, you too must have to live your life In a way which reflects the same. For that, examine yourself and ask yourself: Am I consistent with my words? Am  I consistent with my actions? Am I consistent with my beliefs, values and standards? When you are consistent with the above traits, people will follow you and work on the principles that you live on and become much better leaders.